Great American eclipse: Celestial mechanics or Act of God?

Man has always looked to the cosmos for answers, with delight, in fear, and for signs.

In August, the boldest sign the universe can bring — a midday midnight — will be on display for millions of people as a total solar eclipse paints a black ribbon coast-to-coast.

It is mechanical, an alignment predictable to the second, an event ripe for scientific study. Yet, it is also an apparition so profound that historically, and even today, a total solar eclipse is considered by some a signal from a higher power, or a harbinger of apocalypse.

“Total eclipses are so phenomenal and so overpowering and so amazing that some people have ascribed a ‘super spirituality’ to them,” said Dan McGlaun, a 12-time total solar eclipse viewer who runs the website Eclipse2017.org. “That’s why so many cultures have created stories and myths about eclipses throughout history.”

The Aug. 21 total solar eclipse is the first in 99 years to cross the U.S., traveling from Oregon to South Carolina. Everyone in North America will be able to see the eclipse, but only those in the 70-mile wide path of totality will witness a black hole open in the daytime sky as the moon envelops the sun.

The cross-country eclipse will take 90 minutes, beginning at 10:15 a.m. PST in Newport, Ore., and ending 4:10 p.m. EST in Charleston, S.C. For two minutes, 40 seconds, darkness will reign in the strip of totality where 12 million people live and millions more will journey.

The moon passes between the sun and the earth causing a partial solar eclipse Staff photo by Allen Eyestone.

In ancient times, mythical animals were often blamed for the darkness, eating the sun bite by bite to starve people of life-giving light. An invisible dragon swallowed the sun in China. India had a serpent head with no body munching on the bright star. Demon dogs did the deed in Scandinavia. The Mayans thought a giant Jaguar was the culprit.

Some Australian aboriginal tribes thought the eclipse was the joining of the moon and sun as man and wife, or the moon (man) pulling the curtains of the sky closed for privacy as they came together.

“That’s really the sweetest one I’ve heard,” said Lika Guhathakurta, NASA’s lead scientist for the eclipse. “Most cultures have regarded eclipses with great trepidation and fear, and you can understand why when all of a sudden darkness descends during the day and you don’t know why.”

Guhathakurta said in remote parts of India people hold onto folklore beliefs that food cooked during an eclipse is poison and people bang pots and pans together to frighten away the moon so the sun can shine again. There is also a misconception that solar eclipses can harm pregnant women, who are asked to stay indoors during the event.

As recent as 1995, Guhathakurta said she saw the pots and pans ritual in India. In 1998, she saw the same thing in Mongolia.

“Even in our country, there are all kinds of ideas,” said Guhathakurta.